Monday, 30 November 2009

I think that sick people in Ankh-Morpork generally go to a vet. It's generally a better bet. There's more pressure on a vet to get it right. People say "it was god's will" when granny dies, but they get *angry* when they lose a cow.

-- (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett)

Upgrades to services cause a black out, when no pod pilot dare venture outside, it's these times when we reflect on what has gone before and live in hope for what is to come.

Much has changed, I've taken to flying the Abaddon a lot recently and I'm really enjoying it, sure it's slow but damn, it packs one helluva punch. I've started to fly with the Gusandall mob a lot more too and it's always a good laugh.

I've lost touch with friends in the Bastards but through no fault of theirs, their home in Evati not on my places to visit regularly. I don't roam as far as I used to, with limited time it is far easier to stay close to home.

It has been too long since I flew Interceptors and I desperately need to get back to them, same goes for the Rupture.

Keira can fly Carriers and Dreadnoughts, can shoot lasers, hybrids and projectiles but really needs to put her skills to use in combat.

Kenny, over a year as a pod pilot has become a devastating Tengu pilot and is responsible for running the Mended Drum, as well as production of rigs for me and vital research projects.

Our Covops friend is still doing her thing but has taken to doing some exploration on the side to fund her activities.

The Rizzel family is still going strong.

There have been times I've considered throwing the towel in but then the universe has so much to offer and there's so much to still do.

Where to from here, I don't know, all I know is, as Tessa Vaako would say, the future is exciting.

A sliver between me and the black

Had a close call in Nanny Ogg earlier this evening, news of a Maelstrom and Hyperion in Ingunn tiring the hornet's nest, the Gusandall locals all a buzz for a kill or two.

A small gang descends upon the Ingunn gate, all eager to engage either ship, Maelstrom had already jumped in and warped to the Eifer gate, Asss and I had landed on the Ingunn gate, a scout reports the Hyperion on the other side, we jump through as the Hyperion warps away to a planet, some follow but Nanny Ogg as I have mentioned is slow, just as I am about to enter warp it is reported the Hyperion has warped back to the gate, I cancel warp and approach the gate.

Hyperion lands, shortly followed by Assassin X in his Armageddon, Asss engages and forces the Hyperion through, I follow, once on the other side the Hyperion uncloaks almost instantly, as do I, engaging the instant the gate cloak wears off. The Maelstrom has entered Gusandall and warps in to help his friend, both decide Nanny Ogg to be the best choice of target.

Hyperion is primary, it goes down rather quickly, my armour creeping deep into the red, we all switch to the Maelstrom and it melts, just in time, only 4% armour between me and the cold embrace of space. Nanny Ogg stood firm as only she can, imperious.

A good if one sided fight, props to both pilots for engaging and especially to the Maelstrom pilot who came back to help his buddy even with the odds stacked against them.

Much thanks to Asssassin X who jumped into a Guardian to repair Nanny Ogg, saving me a whole bunch of ISK in station repair costs.

Sunday, 22 November 2009

Been a lazy day, spent most of it watching movies, drinking tea and relaxing. Went out for a spin in Flubber™ to help the Mean crew Hunt for Red October in Eifer but other than that, it was quiet.

Keira was chilling at The Mended Drum when she spotted an Apocalypse running an exploration complex on her scanner, she quickly docked, grabbed her Cheetah and proceeded to probe it out. She hasn't flown the Cheetah in a very, very long time but she quickly narrowed the Amarr battleship down and proceeded to set up a warp in.

I was spoilt for choice, not quite sure which ship to use but settled on my trusty mission jack Pilgrim, a ship I have used to great effect jacking Ravens in Ingunn. Time to dust the old lady off and take her for a spin in the black. As soon as I had undocked Keira reported the Apoc was done with the Angel pirates and had cloaked, I cursed but warped over anyway.

Once out of warp I started to move towards where Keira had last spotted the Apoc, a Helios uncloaked and started hacking the various bits and bobs in the complex, not to allow him the opportunity I uncloaked my Pigrim, at the site of which he bailed.

Back to trying to find that Apoc then. I started to run patterns around the site, initially with drones out but I soon recalled them and cloaked. Back and forth I went, moving to obvious align spots, I moved faster under cloak than the Apoc would so it was only a matter of time and a lot of luck.

After about half an hour the Apoc's luck ran out as he appeared on my overview, two clicks away, I had run right into him.

A delicate game of cat and mouse ensued as he would drop drones to try and kill mine, thus eliminating my damage, but eventually I was able to kill the bulk of them, after a few would die he would withdraw his flight, as mine resumed on his ship. He was tanking quite well, even though I had all my energy neutralisers running, must have had a cap booster fitted. My own cap booster was chewing through my 400s just to feed my neuts.

I gave a shout on voice comms, to see if anyone was awake, Dogz, Apothica and Aiko responded, I quickly invited them to fleet and just in time too.

00:00:25 Notify grafs has initiated self-destruct of their Apocalypse, it will explode in 120 seconds.

It was now a race against time, but the Apoc rocked as it started to vent fuel and air into the vacuum, eventually lighting it all up in a massive explosion.

Great teamwork in the end, a pity I was unable to solo him but he was setup quite nicely and his tactics of trying to kill my drones was a good one.

I docked up, a nice cup of Earl Grey my reward for patience and some fortune on my part

What are you going to do with that?

In my previous report I spoke of a new addition to the NovaKane fleet, Keira has been skilling for a new ship and I've been looking closely at auctions and contracts to see what was available.Last night I pulled the trigger and with Keira's permission we bought a Dreadnought.

What prompted this acquisition? Well, the POS bash we attended a few weeks ago in which Keira's Archon was out-damaged by my Armageddon had her in a strop.

So without further procrastination here she is:

Have not christened her yet, need to come up with an appropriate moniker, any suggestions?

Saturday, 21 November 2009

The kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance.

-- (Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, Good Omens)

Back in Black

Quite an eventful return from my leave, which is always good.

The Gusandall pocket has been quiet as of late with regards to solo hunting and with this in mind I've spent a bit of time hanging out with the Mean Corp crew. Not to say I'm not trying to solo hunt but I've found hanging out with the delinquents of Gusandall is always a good laugh.

Over the years the friendships I've struck with many of the Mean pilots has grown and whilst it has been rocky at times I enjoy flying with them and it can be extremely rewarding.

This evening I was just hanging about the hangar, checking up on some stuff, taking care of business and looking at prices for a new addition to the NovaKane fleet, which Keira will pilot. More news on that in coming weeks. Laneth was about in the black and mentioned there was a Maelstrom class battleship docked up. Fortunately I was all set to jump into a Pod and get plugged into a ship, Nanny Ogg would do nicely and when Laneth spotted the Maelstrom undock it was time.

Nanny Ogg slid effortlessly out into space, just in time to see the Maelstrom warp towards the Eifer gate, At speed from the undock I entered warp immediately, hot in pursuit. Bursting out of warp on the Eifer gate my Abaddon joined Laneth in a Megathron and Colonel Kurtz in a Tempest. Not wanting to engage and watch the Maelstrom jump through to Eifer, we locked and waited, he warped back to the station. We followed, of course we followed.

The Maelstrom pilot now made a mistake, he warped back to the Eifer Gate where Kurtz was waiting, his Tempest ready to engage and force the pilot through to Eifer, which he did but as Laneth and I landed we jumped through immediately, the trap sprung. Laneth and I engaged, Kurtz waiting out his timer so he could jump in and join, pvp god in an Ishtar joining the merriment. The Maelstrom's strong tank gave in, explosions rocking it from bow to stern as it expired.

Nicely executed.

Minutes later it all kicked off, a small gang had been spotted. Laneth, Kurtz, pvp god and myself were ready, myself waiting at the Mended Drum whilst Intel was gathered. They were all waiting on the Gus gate in Eifer, plan was to send bait in and get them to engage. It didn't quite work out as we had planned. Bait went in just as they jumped into Gus, me in warp to the gate where the incoming hostiles were coming from. I landed as the first few started uncloaking, Nanny Ogg now the bait. My overview lit up like the eyes of a fat kid at an all you can eat buffet. Primaries called by Laneth as they all joined, my armour now dipping into the red. Nanny Ogg stood firm as the hostiles decided to change tactics and primary. GOD's Ishtar now taking the bulk of the fire. My drones were chewing through whatever too their fancy as the Blackbird successfully jammed my locking systems for a good four cycles. Meanwhile god was going down, we could not stand for this as one by one the primaries fell, other ships exploding due to drone aggro. With the fight firmly in our favour the remaining hostiles fled, leaving wrecks and abandoned drones in their wake. All in alll a good fight, one loss in the Shape of god's Ishtar but we had inflicted on them two battlecruiser, three cruiser, one frigate and one destroyer in losses.

Good fight.

We would later catch a Drake and Harbinger in two seperate engagements in Gusandall and Eifer, the second with me in a Zealot heavy assault cruiser.

Still in the Zealot we decided to take a trip through a wormhole which dropped us in Kor-Azor lowsec, 85 lowsec jumps through conventional travel away from home. we tried in vain to get an engagement out of the locals before heading home. Luckily for us the wormhole was stable enough to let us get back, saving us a very long trip.

As we trickled through a small gang of assault frigates jumped into Gus, they headed straight for the Angel 2/10 complex, we followed hoping to catch them before they entered, only managing to get the Ishkur as the other two were launched deep into the dead-space complex. Not detered by this, Zonk and I docked up to grab ships that could enter the complex. We gave chase and were rewarded with two further kills as the Hawk and Wolf both hung around too long. Some nice loot off the Wolf.

It was getting late as only god and I were up, we chased a Maller into Eifer, god in an Eos and me in a Rupture, the Maller obvious bait but what the hell, you only live once (As a Capsuleer this can be quite annoying as it's a bloody long time being immortal) Trap srpung, Setries doing heavy damage t god and myself when a Drake joined in. I managed to get out, but god was far off the gate, tackled and losing drones and armour to the combined fire of sentries, the Drake and Maller. I decided to go back in, see if we could at least drop the Maller, with 25% hull left this was going to be a short trip, it was, my Rupture not lasting much longer, god was going down and I hurried back to Gus to grab Nanny Ogg, but it was too late, god's Eos expiring just as I undocked from the station. I hurried back to Eifer as quickly as possible but as I jumoed in the Drake had scampered back to the safety of highsec.

A Typhoon presented quite a nice snack before god in a Phobos and me in Nanny Ogg called it a night. I headed back home, rather drained from a good evening.

Thanks guys, really enjoyed myself.

I slump into a couch just off the main hangar, a nice cup of Earl Grey and a cigarette my reward.

[OOC] Killboard still deadand other news

I've been away for the past few weeks in South Africa on some well deserved R&R, depending on how I feel this week before I go back to work on Friday I'll be setting up a new personal killboard. I'll be starting from scratch and hope to fill it with many, many explosions. Apologies to Mean Corp and Hellequin for linking their boards in this post but it gives the best information with regards to this evenings happenings.

The silly season is almost upon us and with that my schedule at work goes mental, December will be quiet on the EVE front as Real Life™ once again take over every aspect of my life.

January however promises to be very interesting as various NovaKane and Rizzel projects take off with me hopefully being able to dedicate more time to this wonderful game.

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